Movement disorders, i.e. neurological diseases or other problems that result in movement or muscle control problems are debilitating to a great number of individuals worldwide. In general, various movement disorders are characterized by uncontrolled or poorly controlled movement, involuntary movement, an inability or reduced ability to move, or improper muscle tone.
Parkinson's Disease is generally characterized by tremor, an involuntary movement of the limbs and extremities that leads to an inability to perform normal daily life activities. It is believed that the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease are caused at least in part by a loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, a brain structure with an inhibitory effect on movement. Other symptoms of Parkinson's Disease include rigidity (undesired increased muscle tone, often leading to a “locking” effect in the limbs) and bradykinesia (slower-than-desired movements, and difficulty in initiating movements).
Essential Tremor, as its name suggests, is also characterized primarily by tremor in the limbs and extremities. Tremor can also result as a symptom of Multiple Sclerosis and other diseases and disorders.
Other movement disorders are characterized by different symptoms. Dyskinesias, such as Huntington's Chorea, result in other forms of unwanted movement. Huntington's Chorea, in particular, is a congenital disorder that causes undesired “dance-like” movements of the limbs. It is believed to be caused by degeneration of the striatum. Hemiballismus, another dyskinesia, causes flailing of the limbs on one side of the body and is believed to be caused by degeneration of the subthalamic nucleus.
While drug therapy provides good results for a substantial number of patients suffering from various movement disorders, particularly in the early stages before the disorders have progressed, there are some disadvantages to using drugs. In particular, patient compliance is particularly difficult to achieve when complex drug regimens are necessary to maintain an effective serum concentration. If drug levels are too low, the therapy may be ineffective; high levels can be damaging—they may cause serious side effects or even exacerbate the patient's movement disorders.
Surgery has also shown some promise and is effective with some patients, especially since there are fewer ongoing patient compliance issues (although patients who have had resective brain surgery are frequently kept on drug therapy as well). For example, lesions can be produced in the thalamus, globus pallidus, and other brain structures in an attempt to regulate patients' symptoms. However, clearly, resective brain surgery is irreversible and risky—neurological deficits have been known to occur.
Accordingly, described herein are two types of disorders of the human brain that have been shown to be effectively treated by the use of electrical stimulation. A first type of disorder is involuntary motion disorders such as the tremor associated with Parkinson's disease, familial tremor, tics or any other disorder that results in a shaking of a patient's hand, head or any other body part. A second type of disorder is associated with loss of muscular control as for example dystonia, spasticity or rigidity.
Continuous deep brain stimulation, particularly in the ventralis intermedius (Vim) nucleus of the thalamus, also has been shown to provide some relief from the symptoms of various movement disorders. However, this approach has resulted in some unpleasant side effects, in particular paresthesias, numbness, and slurring of speech. Moreover, a relatively small implantable device capable of performing continuous stimulation would tend to have a shorter battery life than would be desirable. Unlike other surgical treatments, continuous deep brain stimulation is reversible, in the event the side effects or neurological deficits resulting therefrom are more debilitating or unpleasant than the movement disorder. See, e.g., A. L. Benabid et al., “Long-Term Electrical Inhibition of Deep Brain Targets in Movement Disorders,” Movement Disorders 1998, 13(Supp. 3): 119–125; and R. E. Gross et al., “Advances in Neurostimulation for Movement Disorders,” Neurological Research 2000, 22: 247–258.
Deep brain recordings from patients with tremor have shown an abnormal rhythmic electrical activity in the thalamus, globus pallidus, and subthalamic nucleus at a frequency of approximately 3–5 Hz. This rhythmic activity is associated with tremor, i.e., there is a substantially constant frequency and phase relationship between tremor and the electrophysiological activity. When electrical stimulation is applied in this same region of the brain where the 3–5 Hz signal is detected, the involuntary motion can be eliminated or at least moderated. Applying an electrical signal at 30–180 Hz using 300 microsecond biphasic pulses has been shown to eliminate or attenuate tremor. Stimulation by deep brain electrodes at 60–70 Hz using 300 microsecond biphasic pulses at 3–6 volts has been shown to cause a reduction in spasticity thereby allowing more normal movements.
Even voluntary and intentional movement causes observable signals in the thalamus; tremor is manifested by regular oscillations at a patient-specific frequency. It is of course understood that other regimens of electrical stimulation can also be used for treating involuntary motion and muscle tone disorders.
Both the detection of abnormal deep brain electrical signals and the control of abnormal motion and motor control disorders have been reported by Cooper, Upton and Amin. See I. S. Cooper et al., “Chronic Cerebellar Stimulation (CCS) and Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) in involuntary movement disorders,” Applied Neurophysiology 1982, 45(3): 209–17. There is no currently available device that can provide either or both responsive and/or continuous electrical stimulation via deep brain electrodes to reduce or eliminate involuntary motion disorders and/or muscle tone disorders. The Medtronic Activa implantable pulse generator is now in use for Parkinson's disease. The Activa provides periodic or continuous stimulation to the thalamus through deep brain electrodes but has no responsive capabilities. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,016,449, Fischell et al. describe a sophisticated cranially implanted neurostimulator with responsive electrical stimulation capabilities, generally described as being used in the treatment of epilepsy.